Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 76.52
Liaison Maria Kirrane
Submission Date July 28, 2022

STARS v2.2

University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork
OP-14: Office Paper Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.78 / 1.00 Maria Kirrane
Sustainability Officer
Office of the Director of Buildings and Estates

Criteria

Institution purchases office paper with post-consumer recycled, agricultural residue, and/or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified content.


Applicability

This credit applies to all institutions. 


Scoring

An institution earns the maximum of 1 point available for this credit by purchasing exclusively office paper that contains 90-100 percent post-consumer recycled and/or agricultural residue content or is FSC Recycled or FSC 100% labeled. Incremental points are awarded based on the percentage of office paper purchased with post-consumer recycled, agricultural residue, and/or FSC certified content. For example, if 50 percent of all office paper purchased by an institution was 90-100 percent post-consumer recycled content, the institution would earn 0.5 points (half of the points available).

 

Points for this credit are calculated automatically in the STARS Reporting Tool as follows:

Percentage of post-consumer recycled, agricultural residue, and/or FSC certified content

Factor

 

Annual expenditures on office paper that meets the criteria at each level

 

Total annual expenditures on office paper

 

Points earned

10-29

0.2

×

______

÷

______

=

 

30-49

0.4

______

 

50-69

0.6

______

 

70-89

(or FSC Mix label)

0.8

______

 

90-100

(or FSC Recycled/100% label)

1

______

 

Total points earned →

Up to 1

 


Measurement

Timeframe

Report the most recent data available from within the three years prior to the anticipated date of submission.

Sampling and Data Standards

Institutions may track purchases over a full one-year time period, report average annual expenditures over a two or three year period, or estimate annual expenditures based on a representative sample.  When using a sample, institutions should strive to ensure that the sample recognizes seasonal and other variations that influence purchasing behavior.

At a minimum, the figures provided must include office paper expenditures by the institution’s central purchasing unit, department, portal, or vendor. Other paper expenditures may be excluded at the institution’s discretion to simplify reporting.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.